Service CU Touts LEEDS Certification for New HQ

Service Credit Union's new headquarters in Portsmouth, N.H., includes LEED Gold certification and community meeting spaces, along with housing some 600 employees.

The $2.3 billion Service Credit Union said this week that its new corporate office building in Portsmouth, N.H., has been certified as LEED Gold by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Green elements include a light-colored roof, geothermal heating and cooling, solar hot water heating and reduced water usage, resulting in 36% less energy consumption; 40% less water consumption; 63% less CO2 emissions and a 98 Energy Star Rating, meaning that it uses less energy than 98% of similar facilities, the 176,600-member credit union said.

The four-story building features a full service, 24/7 live person contact center, foreign exchange, member check imaging, processing and control, finance, marketing, electronic services, audit, community rooms, conference rooms, and departmental and executive offices.

“The design incorporates a variety of efficient systems and sustainable design features that will minimize the building’s energy use while creating comfortable and highly functional work spaces,” said Service CU President/CEO Gordon Simmons.

The new headquarters also utilized a brownfield redevelopment site and offers bike racks, and fuel efficient and car pool parking spaces. About 600 people work there and the building is the first in Portsmouth’s new Gateway District.

“Our goal from the beginning was to use American materials and labor in constructing our new environmentally sound Service Credit Union Corporate Offices,” Simmons said. “The building is a vital resource and hub of activity within in the city.”

Based in Portsmouth, Service CU has 42 branches, including two 24/7 contact centers and 17 branches on U.S. bases in Germany, and serves anyone who lives or works in New Hampshire (excluding Coos County), four towns on Cape Cod, Mass., and all branches of the U.S. military and Department of Defense employees and their families.